Buried in the healthcare reform bill are dozens of pilot and demonstration projects that may become a permanent part of the healthcare landscape. A key pilot program plan is proposed expansion and revisions of a national Medicare pilot program for bundled payments.

A Senate plan to create a system in which government agencies can inform private health insurers about fraudulent providers and their schemes—and vice versa—was a victim of the lawmaking sausage factory, although advocates say that it could prevent millions if not billions of dollars lost in scams.

The demand for healthcare workers appears to be accelerating in most areas of the nation, a new study shows. Labor trends in 30 markets found demand growing fastest in Sacramento, Riverside/San Bernardino, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Dallas for the fourth quarter of 2009.

Johnson & Johnson and two of its subsidiaries have been named in a kickback scheme that allegedly paid millions of dollars in kickbacks to Omnicare Inc., the nation's largest pharmacy that specializes in dispensing drugs to nursing home patients, the Department of Justice announced today.

A survey from the Institute for Safe Medication Practices has found that the recession may be compromising medication safety—at least according to hospital workers surveyed nationwide. In an ISMP survey of healthcare professionals made in fall 2009, the economy appears to be putting various pressure on a number of hospitals—particularly through staff cuts—causing them to take steps in response to the economic downturn that could put patients at greater risk.

With a 21% Medicare reimbursement cut for physicians looming on March 1, the American Medical Association began airing TV ads that call on the Senate to permanently fix what has become an annual sideshow. The ads are airing in 10 states through the end of January.

Wheeling (WV) Hospital and Children's Hospital Pittsburgh of UPMC have announced a partnership that officials say will improve access to pediatric specialty care for children and their families in the Ohio Valley region of West Virginia. Wheeling Hospital is a 276-bed facility located in Northern West Virginia between the Pennsylvania and Ohio borders. Through the partnership, several pediatric subspecialty physicians from Children's Hospital Pittsburgh of UPMC will have rotating office hours each week on the Wheeling Hospital campus.

It's a move of expansion and contraction for Detroit-based Henry Ford Health System, which plans to close 86 inpatient beds at Henry Ford Cottage Hospital in Grosse Point Farms, MI, to make way for new outpatient medical services to serve a burgeoning elderly population in the area. The 20-bed medical-surgical unit as well as a 30-bed psychiatric unit and 36-bed rehabilitation unit program will be closed at Cottage Hospital, whose patients will be relocated to other Henry Ford campuses on or before April 3, officials said.

Healthcare has been in growth mode as long as most of us can remember. Part of that is because demand for healthcare services grows along with the population. But according to many experts, growth is part of the problem.